Notes: Freshman right-hander Trevor Bettencourt recorded wins in both of his appearances last week, helping the Vols shut out Western Kentucky, 4-0, on Tuesday and coming out of the bullpen to shut down Alabama in a 7-6 win on Saturday. The victories were the first two of his collegiate career.

One of the most reliable arms out of the bullpen so far this season for Tennessee, Bettencourt made his first career start against the Hilltoppers, striking out three and scattering six hits in 3.2 shutout innings. He then added two more punchouts in 2.1 innings of relief against the Crimson Tide, yielding just one run on two hits as the Big Orange picked up its first SEC win of the season.

Those two efforts helped lower his ERA for the season down to a miniscule 1.65, having allowed just three runs in 16.1 innings of work. He also has a team-leading two saves on the year and opponents are hitting just .233 off of him.

Tennessee Weekly Notes

Tennessee posted a 3-2 record last week, sweeping a midweek series over Western Kentucky before taking a game off of Alabama in Tuscaloosa over the weekend.

The Volunteers opened with a 4-0 shutout of WKU for their second blanking as a pitching staff in four games before holding off former UT pitcher Matt Myers' Hilltoppers, 5-4, in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon. In the first game, UT took advantage of a Western Kentucky error to score three unearned runs in the first inning and five Vol pitchers made it hold up.

The second game against Western Kentucky proved a much tougher contest as Tennessee had to overcome a 10th-inning deficit, using a safety squeeze by Taylor Smart and a walk-off hit-by-pitch to Christin Stewart to get the job done. That triumph pushed UT's winning streak to five games heading into the beginning of SEC play.

The Vols didn't get off to quite the start they were looking for in league action as Alabama scored 12 unanswered runs after UT took a 1-0 lead in the first inning to win the conference opener, 12-1.

The Orange and White bounced back on Saturday though, holding off a late push by the Crimson Tide to record its first SEC win of the year, 7-6. After Alabama had cut the UT lead from four to one in the bottom of the eighth inning, freshman Drake Owenby came on to record the final four outs and pick up his first career save. UA then used an eight-run first inning to close out the series with a 15-1 triumph on Sunday.

Tennessee will look to get back into the win column on Wednesday when it hosts Western Carolina for a 6 p.m. showdown at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Freshman right-hander Aaron Quillen will get the start for UT.

Missouri will then make the trek to Rocky Top for a three-game series over the weekend with first pitch set for 6 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.